episode_0060

The uncle left his seat on a weekday morning at 10 a.m.

Normally, I would have been quietly studying for the college entrance exam at my desk at home, but today, I decided to make a small departure from my usual routine.

The reason for this change of heart was simply that a place I wanted to visit came to mind.

The destination was the house where Han Eun-seok lived before becoming Jun Eun-hye, the place I had vowed to leave once I became an adult, a place I never wanted to return to even after becoming Jun Eun-hye, but after attending the funeral, I decided to go back to that place where lingering regrets remained.

“Nothing has changed at all.”

Arriving at the spot where I had been hit by a truck last time in the residential area, there was no trace of the accident that had occurred that day, despite the chaos that had erupted in Jun Eun-hye’s memory.

“Well, it’s been half a year, so it’s natural.”

There were lingering questions, but I didn’t pay much attention to them. Han Eun-seok was already dead.

With my head held high, I walked past the spot where I had been hit by the car and headed towards my destination.

As I left the accident scene and entered an alley, a familiar sight caught my eye. Whenever I was kicked out of the house, I would always sit here, staring blankly at the sky.

If I happened to become the target of a stray cat, I would run to the nearby junk shop and seek help from the Jindo dog they kept there…

“I owe them a lot in many ways, so I should bring some snacks on the way back.”

Recalling the memories that had now become nostalgic, I walked down the dirty alley, and before I knew it, I had left the alley and was faced with an apartment complex.

The exterior paint was peeling off, giving the old corridor-style apartment a dirty appearance.

The house I lived in was on the 3rd floor, unit 303.

Descending from the old elevator with glass windows on the front, I walked alone down the long corridor.

As I passed by unit 306 where a newlywed couple lived, I heard the sound of something breaking and the screams of a man and a woman. I thought they were a happy couple, but I guess it didn’t last long.

Unit 305, where the troublemaker triplets lived, was quiet. Well, it’s time for school now, so they must all be gone.

Next door, unit 304. The grandmother who lived alone here was a kind person, but she always carried curses with her. Still, she was a grateful person who took care of me whenever I was kicked out of the house…

Yes, our house is just a little further ahead. Soon, I’ll be right—

“…Huh?”

As I reached unit 303, what caught my eye was the graffiti covering the faded cement wall.

In disbelief, I stood there with my mouth agape, reading the graffiti written in red spray paint and black pen one by one.

“Murderer, human trash, devilish woman, saved by Eun-seok, sons of b*tches.”

The wall was covered with so many curses that it was hard to take it all in.

Not only that, but the window behind the security bars was shattered with a lot of gold on it, and the front door leading into the house was heavily damaged, with even the number 303 missing.

It couldn’t be pinpointed exactly who did it, but it was undoubtedly the work of the people who came to my funeral.

—Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep♪

Feeling a mix of emotions, I activated the keypad of the door lock and entered the password I had never forgotten, and as always, the locked front door opened.

“Ha… Haha… There really is no mess like this.”

Entering the house and turning on the lights, I saw the cluttered living room filled with all sorts of odds and ends.

The broken shards of glass scattered everywhere indicated just how poorly maintained the place was, making it hard to believe that it was a place where people lived.

Moving a bit further inside, the sight of a messy kitchen with a sink full of lies and various instant foods strewn about greeted me.

“It seems like this place won’t function properly without me. I don’t feel like it, but should I tidy up a bit?”

Letting out a deep sigh, I dusted off the heavily soiled apron and put it on after shaking it out several times.

I purposely came at this time to avoid seeing them again, but being alone in this empty house made me feel nostalgic.

He was just an ordinary businessman, but after repeated failures, he eventually turned to gambling. That lazy man, who couldn’t hold himself together for the rest of the family, always seemed to pick on me the most.

Similarly, my mother, an ordinary housewife, was a greedy woman. She squandered the money she received for raising me and then forced me to work at a logistics center to repay the favor. I had been scolded by that human being for trivial reasons.

Whenever he couldn’t earn money properly and complained that there wasn’t enough part-time pay, insisting that there must be more hidden somewhere, I got sick of it and ran away from home countless times.

There were times when I was so angry that I almost turned everything upside down, but my brother Junseok didn’t stop me, and I might have really done it if he hadn’t.

I despised them to the point of feeling resentment living with them in this house, but now I don’t feel any emotions at all.

They were strangers then, and they are the same now.

Unlike those two, my brother Junseok treated me like a real younger sibling. When I was severely beaten, he secretly applied ointment, willingly handed over his beloved game console to cheer me up, and even made me genuinely touched by giving me the last dumpling when we were young.

Honestly, I really hated Junseok, the child of those people.

I started working part-time in the first place because of my mother’s insistence that I send Junseok to college, and she always shielded and turned around Junseok no matter what wrong he did, even going so far as to blame me.

Looking back, it might have been possible to endure in this harsh household because of Junseok.

Stepping foot in this house again, and the lingering feelings, were all because of Junseok’s presence.

“…But what am I doing right now?”

I didn’t come here with the intention of cleaning, but somehow I found myself in the room where Junseok and I used to spend time, holding a vacuum cleaner after finishing cleaning the kitchen.

I was surprised at myself, but since I had already started, I thought I should finish the job and pressed the power button on the vacuum cleaner.

“Everywhere else is a mess, but this place is relatively clean. Do I really need to clean here… huh?”

As I looked around the unchanged room, I discovered something I had never seen before.

It was a white jar with a lid on a small table. Upon closer inspection, the jar had the name Han Eunseok and a date written on it, and in front of it, there was a letter containing a message that Han Eunseok could never reach.

*

When I returned home, it was already late in the evening. The man must have come home early and was sitting on the living room sofa, taking a rest.

“Where did you go? I was worried about you.”

The man who found me tried to get up, but I deliberately sat on his knees and leaned my back against him quietly.

“Why are you like this, Eunhye? What’s wrong?”

“Ah, it’s nothing. I just felt like doing this.”

I snuggled up to the man who was looking at me worriedly and buried my face in his chest.

In truth, there was something I wanted to confirm in that house.

Since the moment I saw my brother Junseok at my funeral. I wondered if he was genuinely saddened by my death.

No matter what anyone said, I was convinced that Junseok saw me as a nuisance, even though he pretended to treat me well outwardly because he was his parents’ biological child.

But now I’m not sure anymore. I want to meet my brother and see for myself.

Did he really cherish me? Why did he feel guilty and suffer alone even though my parents who took my life were in prison? Why did he stay in that house, burdened by people’s resentment?

But even if I want to meet him, I am not allowed to face Junseok as Han Eunseok.

I am now Joo Eunhye.

Lonely and in pain, pretending to be strong, Han Junseok’s brother Han Eunseok, who used to act like nothing was wrong, is already dead.

If I had known I would regret it like this, I would have acted more like a brother.

I realized the true meaning of precious things only after losing them, but it’s too late to regret now.

“Eunhye?”

But

“Hehehe, sir.”

My family now is Kang Sunwoo.

So, this time, I won’t lose my precious person.

Because I’ve decided.